


The One Consumed

by Zillabird



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Dubious Ethics, Multi, Pseudo-Incest, Underworld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:33:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6136721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zillabird/pseuds/Zillabird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason is a nature god with too much power and not nearly enough control. A mistake makes his father, King of the Gods, send him to the Underworld for a short period of time to see the consequences of further reckless behavior. There he meets King Richard, ruler of the Underworld and god of the dead, lonely and desperate for affection. But nature gods weren't meant for darkness and death and soon Jason is eager to return to the surface.</p><p>Only Dick might not be ready to let go...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red Orange and Ink Black

**Author's Note:**

> This story is loosely and not-so-loosely based off the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone. Please note that as with any story relating to the Greek Gods, incest of a sort is involved. It's not used as a kink or drawn out but I cannot deny that Dick is the brother of Bruce and Jason is the son of Bruce. Dick and Jason /are/ related. For them, this is normal and not considered weird any more than it is for the gods and goddesses of Greek myth.
> 
> Furthermore, this story is being written and posted as it's written. I am not always aware of the warnings and tags that will be needed for the story so I would advise readers to watch the tags for new additions as they read each new chapter. I will attempt to post a warning at the top of chapters when new tags are added but be a responsible reader and pay attention to the warnings. Thank you.

“You want me to do _what_ , Bruce?” Dick demanded, standing and stepping away from the glittering throne behind him and walking across the rich soil to where Bruce was standing in his domain. It spoke much of how much Bruce must have wanted this for him to appear here instead of summoning Dick to Olympus. “I am not the gods’ babysitter.”

“And the nature god is no child,” Bruce replied. “He’s full grown and mostly in control of his powers. He’s simply reckless and the gods want him to learn the consequences of his actions. It will only be for a short time.”

“Mostly in control?” Dick asked, singling in on the phrase.

Bruce sighed. “He’s a nature god, Dick. Their temperaments are notoriously imbalanced.”

“You want me to take in a relatively young god with questionable control over his powers and a history of being reckless and hold him here in the Underworld to teach him a lesson,” Dick summarized dryly. “How long?”

“A few months at most,” Bruce said.

Dick swore and spun on his heel, hand gripping the hilt of his blade out of old instinct. Old dogs and new tricks, after all.

Bruce grabbed his shoulder and Dick came to a complete stop. Not out of force, Bruce rarely manhandled him like that anymore. Not since they were younger. “Please, Dick. If he does not corral his temper soon, the gods will be forced to take more permanent action and I cannot hold them off forever.”

That was low. Coupled with a touch that Dick mentally hoarded away, Dick was weak to the concept of saving a lost cause. His shoulders sagged even as his hand tightened around the hilt. “Two months, Bruce. I will not hold your nature god here for any longer than that.”

“That will be sufficient,” Bruce said. He squeezed Dick’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

Dick didn’t let go of the hilt until Bruce’s hand left his shoulder. Just like that it was over and Dick was left with nothing but a memory and the tingling feeling where his hand used to be. Dick turned before Bruce could disappear from his realm. “Did you come here as my brother or as my king?”

Bruce considered for a moment. “Both.”

A flash of blue and white lightning exploded and then Bruce was gone once more. The faintest smell of ozone filled the room before it too disappeared. He stared at the spot a moment longer and then returned to his throne.

~~~

Jason was knelt in the center of High Court and his fucking knee hurt. God or not, resting endlessly on the marble of Olympus was driving a striking pain into the joint. It would be better if the gods would just determine his punishment so that he could leave. He had no interest in wasting any more time in the King’s floating lap of luxury.

This is where old gods came to grow lazy and allow their realms to grow neglected. Jason had no place here.

“He is still barely more than a boy-“ Talia said, sitting on her throne beside Bruce. Jason appreciated her vote in his favor but it would not be enough. After his last fit of rage and recklessness had harmed the god of wisdom, not severely but harm was harm, Jason knew he could not skate by again with nothing more than a slap of the wrist.

“He is a god with millennia of experience behind him. There must be consequences!”

Jason didn’t even bother looking to see who was speaking at this point. The pain in his knee was taking up more of his attention and it wouldn’t matter anyways. Jason didn’t have a say in this. His future was determined by the will of the High Court.

A bunch of old gods who acted as if they’d never made a damn mistake in their entire long, long lives.

“Enough,” Bruce said.

Jason did look up then. With a single, calm word the king had quieted the court. He didn’t look angry, more resigned than anything else.

“I have spoken with Richard. He has agreed to take the accused in for a time not exceeding two months,” Bruce said.

Jason’s eyes widened. Richard, king of the underworld, god of riches and the dead. As a boy, centuries ago, Jason remembered seeing him during the last stages of the Titan and Olympian war. Covered in blood, imposing, serious. Demanding the legions of the dead to his call. He opened his mouth but was quieted by a look from Talia. Right. Speaking now ran the risk of only making this punishment that much worse.

But the Underworld… Jason’s connection to nature would be cut off cold turkey. A numbness sunk into his limbs at the merest thought.

“Two months seems excessive,” Talia cautioned.

Jason glanced at Timothy, still nursing his wounds from Jason’s temporary rage, who had not spoken thus far and then back to Bruce. “Two months is barely notable on the lifetime of an immortal. He will reside within the Underworld during those two months while Richard shows him the consequences of continued recklessness and irresponsibility. Upon completion, Jason may leave. Hopefully when he does so, he will take a new understanding of the consequences should he lose control again.”

Jason’s hand curled into a fist and his eyes hardened but he didn’t say anything which he thought was impressive.

“You may have some time to say your goodbyes,” Bruce said. “But you will be transported into the Underworld in one hour. You may stand.”

Jason rose from his knee, feeling much better now that he wasn’t kneeling on the floor any longer. “Thank you, Your Highness.” The gratitude, required but not sincere, came off his tongue like something bitter.

It was one mistake and he was being banished to hell for it. For only two months, maybe, but it was still a banishment.

“High Court is dismissed,” Bruce said, standing. The others stood and then parted.

Jason watched Tim again, long enough to see the man look at him and then walk away. He didn’t say a word to Jason and averted his eyes quickly. Then Talia’s hand was on Jason’s cheek, cupping his face to make him look at her, and thoughts of the god of wisdom were gone in an instant. “Child, how are you taking it?”

“I have been banished for a mistake, Mother,” Jason said. “To the Underworld. How should I be taking it?”

Talia swept him into her arms and Jason fought the urge to push her away. She had never been affectionate when he was a child and that hadn’t changed into adulthood. This show was for the remaining gods and goddesses in Olympus. Instead he took the affection for what it was and then let her pull away. “It will only be for a short time.”

“Two months is hardly short,” Jason said.

Bruce walked over and Jason’s back straightened, tight and tense. Talia followed his gaze. “Beloved.”

“Jason, I know you are upset-“ Bruce started.

“You have no clue what I’m feeling. How many times have you been cast into the Underworld, Father?” Jason demanded.

Bruce’s lips thinned for a moment. “You made a mistake. There are consequences.”

“I don’t need to be thrown into a hole to be forgotten about for a time,” Jason said. There would be no nature in the Underworld. He would be cut off from the spring, from his realm, from the sun. He didn’t want to be thrown into the Underworld.

He just needed some understanding. Nature was a force unlike any other. Jason didn’t always have complete control over his powers because of that fact.

“This could be good for you,” Bruce said.

It was going to be torture and Bruce couldn’t see it. His own father, sentencing him to a pit as far away from the earth and his realm as he could possibly get him.

“If that helps you justify this,” Jason snapped.

Bruce’s expression turned cold and Jason felt the crackle of electricity in the air. Mother. Father. They were powerful beings in their own right. A fair life would have given Jason a domain of reasonable control but no, he had gotten nature. Wild and natural with the powerhouse of strength that came from his parents.

He didn’t know how to control this much power and no one seemed capable of teaching him.

“Richard is a good man,” Bruce said.

Richard was the king of the Underworld. He was the keeper of death, jailer of Titans, ruler of the lower realms. Good didn’t seem like the first description that would have come to mind.

Jason said nothing.

~~~

Dick could remember the little boy. Not well, of course, and he had never interacted with the child or the adult he grew into. But there were faint memories of a little red haired boy on the outskirts of the battlefields. No older than thirteen or fourteen in human years and barely a few centuries in terms of godhood.

The man standing before him was not the same little boy. Whatever Dick had been expecting, it wasn’t this man. Tall, built. Handsome. No, not handsome. Beautiful. Orange and red hair like bloomed poppies and green eyes like new sprouts. Even from here, Dick could smell fresh fallen rain of April showers. “Jason.”

“That’s me,” he said.

He still wasn’t quite the full grown god that Bruce had claimed him to be. Not that he was a child but there were still markers of his teenage years in his bones. He had a few centuries left before he reached a point where he would stop aging. Dick forced back the irritation he felt at Bruce’s lie and held out his hand. His right hand, as the left was gripping the sword at his hip tightly. “Dick.”

“I’ve heard of you,” Jason said dryly and took his hand, shaking it.

Undoubtedly. The humans rarely used his name, too scared of drawing death to their door, but the gods had no qualms about discussing him, his realm, and his actions.

“And I you,” Dick said. “Which is what brings you here, isn’t it?”

Jason’s expression looked a little irritated. Dick might have come off a little chastising but from the sounds of it, the man needed it. “Can you show me where I’ll be staying?”

Dick and Bruce shared a look and there was some sympathy on Bruce’s part to match the resignation on Dick’s. He nodded, releasing the hilt with an effort, and motioned towards the ferry floating near the pier. Bruce had thought it best to bring Jason in this way, give him a chance to see the whole of the Underworld.

Dick just thought it was a damn long trip with someone who wasn’t even looking at him.

Jason looked at the boat and then walked down the wooden pier.

“I regret agreeing,” Dick said.

Bruce was still looking at Jason when he spoke. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“What does _he_ think should be done?” Dick asked. Bruce looked at him surprised and Dick scoffed. “Have you even bothered to ask him?”

Bruce hesitated and then shook his head. “Damian and Jason both inherited their mother’s erraticism.” The sea and nature. Neither were known for their stability and it was just unbelievably dangerous when coupled with Talia’s unhinged personality. “They have more strength than they know what to do with and no control to direct it.”

“You managed control and the skies were not always calm,” Dick replied.

“The ground acted as my foundation,” Bruce said softly. “He needs someone to be his rock.”

Dick smiled a small half smile at Bruce’s gentle gratitude. “He’ll learn. Go now. We have a long journey to the palace.”

Bruce nodded. A flash of light and then he was gone. Ozone hovered in the air. “Does that ever stop being annoying?”

Dick looked back at Jason who was seated in the boat. “What?”

“The flashy entrance and exits,” Jason replied.

Dick felt his lips quirking. “No. It’s always annoying.”

Jason sighed. “Good to know.”

Dick stepped into the boat and the ferryman began pushing them across the river.

~~~

The Underworld was beautiful in an entirely different way from the nature Jason spent so much time in. There was an innate wildness to nature, unpredictability. Here there was a foreboding danger, something hanging in the air. From the orange red sky and the grey, heavy clouds hanging up in the sky. The general lack of light source beyond that glow coming from everywhere.

The river was slow, the water black and inky. Part of Jason had the desire to reach out and touch it, run his fingers through it.

“I wouldn’t,” Dick warned.

Jason looked up. “Mind reading one of your abilities?”

“Not even a little,” Dick said with a small smile. “Just have a lot of experience with souls who look at the water and want to touch it. We’re crossing the river Acheron, the river of pain.”

Jason curled his fingers away from the edge of the boat. “What kind of place has a river of pain?”

“A place that carries a lot of pain. We have to put it somewhere,” Dick said.

That was… not the answer Jason had been expecting.

“It’s beautiful to look at,” Dick said. It was. Black and shiny, reflecting that red orange glow on the top when the motions of the boat caused ripples. “But it’s an incredibly painful experience to suffer through. Probably not worth it.”

“Have you ever touched it?” Jason asked.

Dick arched an eyebrow. “Yes, I have.”

“Did you know before then?” Jason asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“Then why did you do it?” Jason asked.

“Curiosity, I suppose,” Dick said.

Jason was trying to mesh the memories of the bloodstained warrior with the man before him who reached his hand into a river of unimaginable suffering to satiate his curiosity. The river was wide but it wasn’t as long as Jason had expected before the ferryman docked the boat at another wooden pier. Dick stood and climbed out of the boat and then reached his hand out. Jason hesitated and then took his hand to be pulled onto the pier. He looked back at the water, the red orange ripples, as the ferryman pulled the boat back out into open water.

“What’s he doing?” Jason asked.

“Going back to bring over the souls,” Dick replied. “That’s his job here.”

Right. Ferrying the souls across the river to the Underworld. Jason looked out into the new space, the stone mountains and archways and the big iron gate stretched between two stone walls four stories tall. Roughly the same size was the three headed dog running full speed towards them and making small pebbles jump with the force his weight coming down onto the ground. Jason took a step back which had Dick laughing bent over with a grin stretching his lips. It was then that Jason realized that as the dog grew closer, his size shrunk farther and farther down. He was German Shepherd sized by the time he approached Dick and planted two paws on the man’s chest.

“Come meet Cerberus, Jason,” Dick said, scratching the dog between the ears.

Jason sighed and followed over, petting the dogs head after he let all three heads smell his fingertips. “I thought he was supposed to be a guard dog.”

“He is a guard dog,” Dick said. He closed his hand and when he opened it, there were three dog treats in his palm. Each head took one and then the dog stepped away, gnawing on them. Dick focused on Jason again. “But he’s _my_ guard dog. Loyalty is earned, not forced.”

Dick led him across the stone pathways to the iron gate. He waved a hand at them and the gates swung open silently. “Bruce said that this trip was a necessary part of the trip so I revoked your ability to transport in the realm.”

Out of instinct, Jason tried to transport and felt his heart stutter when he couldn’t. “The entire time?”

“No,” Dick assured him. “Just on the trip to the palace. After that, I can’t lead you through the labyrinth that this place can be all the time. I have a kingdom to run and duties to accomplish. I won’t be able to babysit you all the time.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Jason snapped.

The iron gates shut behind them. Ahead, Jason could make out an expanse that seemed endless. Stretches of stone that led into mountains and then more mountains farther back. Inside of the mountains was a palace of black stone. Jason was reminded of the onyx and silently wondered if that’s what the stone was. In some areas, the stones were shadow filled and sounds came from the area that Jason thought sounded like whispers of screams. Behind a mountain, a soft white light glowed.

“It’s bigger than I imagined,” Jason admitted.

Dick smiled. “I hear that more than you can imagine.”

A great circular stone enclosure, with large archways showing inside of it, took up space near the gates. Souls of varying descriptions stood in a long line outside of the enclosure and Jason wandered away from Dick towards the space. The being guarding the area reminded Jason a lot of the ferryman in their quiet distance, the solitude they put off. They didn’t speak, only stepping from their posts when an errant soul stepped out of line. Jason tensed when one moved towards him but Dick put his hand up and it fell back into place.

One of the archways on the ground level was where Jason stepped in, walking into the opening inside. There were three seated at a table and a single soul seated at the chair across from them. Jason knew the language, a natural divine ability, and recognized it as Russian.

“Sentencing determined to the Fields of Asphodel.”

“What is this?” Jason asked.

Dick came to a stop beside him. “This is where the souls are judged and then sent to spend their eternity.”

It was one thing to have an understanding of how the Underworld worked and another to see it in action. Another soul stepped in and the judges began their discussion.

“Come on, Jason. If you’re interested in the process, you can spend some time watching it later,” Dick said. “I need to get us back to the palace so I can finish my duties for the day.”

Jason stepped back.

“Sentencing determined to the Fields of Punishment.”

The soul screams and the guards had to grab him and drag him away. Jason felt something dark settle in his stomach. Is that what Bruce meant to do? Use the Fields of Punishment as some sort of scare tactic into forcing him to learn how to control his powers?

His expression hardened and he turned. “You’re right. We should go.”

Dick watched him for a moment and then sighed.

The stone tapered off into a path no wider than a park path, with the sides taking a dramatic drop into what Jason was pretty sure was lava.

Magma? Jason wasn’t sure what rules applied in the Underworld realm.

“You want to tell me what you did?” Dick asked abruptly.

Jason clenched his jaw. “He didn’t tell you?”

“No,” Dick said. “He told me that you had run out of chances and that there needed to be some sort of punishment. He never went into the details and I never asked.”

“Why?”

Dick shrugged with one shoulder, the shoulder not connected to the hand holding onto the hilt of his blade. “It wasn’t his to tell.”

Jason found it hard to imagine that Bruce hadn’t told him but Dick seemed like he was telling the truth. There was an earnestness in his expression that was refreshing and surprising but welcome. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Another one shouldered shrug. “If you change your mind, I’ll listen.”

“You want me to tell you my problems?” Jason scoffed.

Dick glanced back at him before turning back to focus on the thin trail up to the palace. “Back when the Titans were in control, my brother wasn’t even yet a fully matured god and I was only a few centuries old. He practically raised me.”

“If you’re trying to tell me that he’s good or just or whatever-“ Jason started.

“I’m saying that if anyone knows how much of an asshole he can be, it’s me,” Dick said. “He _is_ good, but he can also be difficult. I’m willing to listen. I’ll understand.”

“Whatever,” Jason replied.

The words took a place in his head, however, and Jason found himself thinking on them during the silence of the remaining trip.

The bed was large and soft. Jason’s experience with soft was the lush green grass of meadows and flower beds. In his time spent on Olympus it was the embrace of clouds. Here, in the Underworld, soft was something else entirely. The closest Jason could think of was the sensation one felt when closing their eyes and floating on the top of a lake.

“Is it suitable?” Dick asked.

Jason opened one eye and looked at the dark haired man in the doorway. His eyes were startling blue, a shade so otherworldly that Jason wondered at the god’s true form. If his human form was so beautiful, what could he look like when it was all peeled away? “It’s fine.” He sat up. “Not exactly what I was expecting.”

“Caskets? Graves?” Dick suggested.

Jason smirked at the image of Dick sitting up out of a coffin. “No. I made a mistake. Father said I was to be punished.” Jason’s fingers curled into the softness of the bed again. “This doesn’t feel like punishment.”

Dick leaned against the doorway and Jason noticed the way his hand curled around the hilt of his sword. “It’s not a punishment. It’s a warning. There’s a difference.”

“I’m banished into the Underworld and away from my own realm,” Jason replied. “Feels kind of like a punishment. There’s no life down here.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Dick said.

Jason frowned and, for the first time, reached out to feel for any signs of life. It was small, distant, but Jason _did_ feel something respond to him. He looked at Dick with a small frown. “What is that?”

“Do you want to come see, instead?” Dick asked.

Jason hesitated and then nodded, standing and following Dick out of the bedroom and down a series of halls. The walls were ornate, glittering. Just shy of gaudy. They tapered off into the same dark black as the outside. Jason stopped at a window, perfectly clear in a way that made Jason know someone was keeping this whole place clean, and looked out at the orange red of the sky. He turned back to the empty hallways. “Not many people down here.”

“In terms of beings like us there’s just you and I. The Titans are in Tartarus and the rest of the gods stay in Mount Olympus,” Dick said. “The souls stay in the Fields and Elysium, the Isles of the Blessed.”

“What about the ferryman or the guards?” Jason asked.

“They aren’t really people,” Dick said. “They’re formed from primordial elements, formed from earth and death. They follow orders.”

It all seemed very lonely. An elaborate palace and a kingdom, a realm all his own, and no one here to share it with. No lavish parties like were thrown on Olympus. No visitors.

Who wanted to visit the Underworld?

“Sounds lonely,” Jason said.

Dick’s hand was around the hilt of that blade again. “It is.” And then Dick turned away from the window, leading him down the hallway once more until the dark stone faded into the same gray stone from outside the palace and the walls stopped abruptly. The stone faded into a dark green grass, too dark to compare to anything on the surface, leading to the plantation in front of him.

Tall trees with bark almost black and leaves that wound that same dark green with a violet color in the veins and the stems. Hanging from the trees were various fruits, recognizable as cousins to their surface counterparts. Orange pears and bright pink pomegranates. Vines that were dark blue and winding around the trees and branches. “What is this place?”

“It’s the gardens,” Dick replied. “They aren’t living in the same way that the surface plants do. I don’t know how much good they will do you. But I know that being down here, so far from your realm, will be difficult. This is the most I can give you to recharge yourself.”

“It’s enough,” Jason said, grateful even if he couldn’t admit it for the small patch of life down here. He reached out and touched a tree, felt the hum of life and let out a soft sigh of relief. Under his touch, the tree bloomed, colors growing a touch more vibrant and one of the pink pomegranates swelling to ripeness. He looked over to the god of the dead and noted something in his eyes.

He couldn’t put a name to it.

“You can spend as much time down here but don’t eat anything from the garden,” Dick said.

“Alright,” Jason said. Dick nodded and turned and Jason frowned. “Wait!”

Dick turned. “What?”

“Where are you going?” Jason asked.

Dick motioned to the realm, to the mountains and the pathways, perilously thin and hanging over molten lava. To the red orange sky and the ink black rivers in the distance. “I have a realm to look after, Jason. Enjoy the garden for a time. Tomorrow we have work to do.”

Jason let go of the tree but the glow remained and the rest of the plantation was picking up the same light. As if even the presence of the nature god was filling it with new life. “Right.”

Dick flashed him a smile. “It’s only two months, Jason. You’ll be back in Olympus with the others in no time.”

“I don’t mind being alone,” Jason replied.

Dick’s hand went to the hilt and he turned back to return to the palace. Jason thought he heard him say, “Lucky you.” But Dick was so far gone it might have just been his imagination.


	2. The Taste of Rotten Fruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took me so long to get out. Hope you enjoy.

“Not much of a morning person, are you?”

The words were enough to wake Jason and his eyes focused in on the red orange glow on the wall streaming in through the window before sliding over to the doorway. Dick was there, full armor just like yesterday, and his hand was on the hilt of his sword. Jason dragged a hand down his face and replied, in a voice raspy from sleep, “Never been much of a morning person, no.”

Blue eyes zipped over Jason’s face and Jason knew exactly what kind of disaster he looked like in the morning. Ruffled hair and red marks from leaning on the pillow. Divinity could give Jason immortality, unimaginable powers, but it did not give him the ability to wake up looking like anything but a monster with drool wetting the pillow.

Go figure.

“Well, for the next two months you’re going to have to learn to be a morning person because that’s when I get started,” Dick said. “Up and at ‘em.”

Jason groaned and dropped his face back down on the pillow. He didn’t hear Dick move from the doorway so he assumed that meant he was going to be standing there until Jason started moving. The younger god dragged himself over to the edge of the large bed and dropped his feet on the floor before forcing himself to stand. “What happened to no cruel and unusual punishment?”

“The Greeks never had anything like that,” Dick said, with an irritating smile on his face. A smile that confused Jason, still trying to mesh this happy version of the man with the war worn soldier from the battlefields centuries ago. “We pick the cruelest punishments that we think of.”

“You don’t have to say that with such a big fucking grin on your face,” Jason muttered. He dragged a hand through his hair and managed some semblance of not looking like a homeless person.

“Come on, Jason. It’s only two months and then you can go back to sleeping in,” Dick said.

Best fucking news he’d heard since he got here.

Jason sighed. “What are we doing today then?”

“Bruce wasn’t very specific about what he wanted you to do here though I’ve been contacted twice by others to make sure that you’ve learned your lesson,” Dick said dryly.

Jason’s shoulders tensed. “What does that mean?”

“It means that people have forgotten that I only have one king,” Dick replied, turning and leading Jason down the hallways of the palace. “If Bruce wanted a specific punishment, he would have told me. But punishments are my duty, not his.”

Jason chewed on the inside of his cheek. “So you’re going to come up with my punishment?”

“Have you done something deserving of punishment?” Dick asked, glancing behind him.

“Obviously I did if I’m here,” Jason replied.

Dick smirked and turned back around. “There are many here that are not here to be punished, Jason, myself included.”

As well as the souls in the Fields of Asphodel and Elysium. Jason knew Dick was right but it didn’t make this feel like any less of a punishment.

“What did you do?” Dick asked. For the second time, because Jason remembered that he’d asked yesterday as well.

Jason sighed and picked up his pace, catching up to Dick walking ahead of him, and replied, “I lost control of my powers. The god of wisdom and I have never gotten along. An argument escalated and I hurt him.”

Dick nodded. “So irresponsibility and lack of discipline.”

“I’ve been trained by my mother to be a warrior. I have plenty of discipline,” Jason said. A flash of gold, green, and red and Dick’s blade was at his throat. Green eyes rolled down to look at the metal, surprised by the contrast it showed to the rest of the kingdom. Whereas the Underworld was dark and heavy, the blade looked weightless and almost glowed with a light of its own. The red and green designs were flowing and soft in between the celestial gold.

“You have training but no experience,” Dick said. “Training for the sake of training is not the same as years of having to put it into reality, the discipline that comes from battle. There is a difference, Jason.”

Jason swallowed and felt the pressure of the blade against his neck before it disappeared back into the sheath at Dick’s hip. “Was that little show necessary?”

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think it was,” Dick said. He turned and started walking again, leaving Jason to wonder about red and green and gold and how Dick had wound up here of all places. “I don’t think pushing a rock up a hill or letting a buzzard eat your innards is going to teach you discipline or responsibility. But working and being even partially responsible for this realm might help. So you can wake up at the butt crack of dawn and help me with the kingdom and that’s going to be what you do while you’re here.”

“Fine,” Jason said. They entered a hall, the entrance they’d come through before, and it was just as grand as before. “What do your duties consist of?”

“Overseeing the ferrying of souls to aid the ferryman and overseeing the judging that you witnessed yesterday. Most of my time is spent determining consequences for the afterlife and counseling new souls,” Dick said.

“Counseling new souls?” Jason asked.

Dick nodded. “For their entire lives these souls have spent their time in human bodies on the surface. Coming down here and absorbing the reality of eternity is a lot to take in.”

Jason frowned, mostly out of confusion. The Underworld wasn’t the place he’d thought it had been. “Anything else?”

“At the end of the day, the rules are simple. Things that come into the Underworld do not come out. Meaning, my job is to keep souls from attempting to escape back onto the surface,” Dick said. “Souls and the Titans. I oversee Tartarus.”

Jason was reminded of a bloodstained memory, his grandfather leading an army of Titans. He cleared his throat. “You’re only one person. It took all of the gods to defeat the Titans last time.”

“I don’t have to defeat them,” Dick said. “I just have to keep the realm locked down. They can’t kill me here, they don’t have the power to destroy me at my strongest, so as long as I’m alive it is my choice whether or not to open the realm for them. And I would never do that.”

Perhaps that was true but Jason had heard the stories, filling in when his childhood memories were too foggy to really paint the picture for him, and he knew without a doubt that he would not want to be the sole person standing between the imprisoned Titans and their freedom.

“Are we walking again?” Jason asked.

Dick smiled more than Jason had assumed he would. “No, we’re teleporting. Yesterday was an anomaly.”

“You mean Bruce’s punishment,” Jason corrected.

Dick shrugged. “I didn’t think it was that bad of a walk.”

It hadn’t been, really. There had been something pleasant about it almost. Jason liked Cerberus and the information provided about the realm had been useful and interesting. Especially considering it would be where he was staying for the next two months.

Jason would choke on Dick’s blade before he ever admitted that his father had a point, however.

They disappeared into momentary darkness and then reappeared on the banks of Acheron. That same ink black water was there but instead of the emptiness of last time, several souls were standing on the shore. A few had taken a seat on dark ground. “Where were all of them yesterday?”

“I didn’t want to overwhelm you. The ferryman and I got them all over and the few who didn’t were sort of…suspended until I got you to the palace,” Dick replied.

Women, men. Old, young. More old than young, there were several aging souls there. Weathered by their years on the surface. “Do they get stuck like that?”

“No,” Dick assured him. “That’s part of counseling although most figure it out on their own. Their soul can choose the happiest form for themselves. These souls are still so new, however, that they tend to remain the same as when they died.”

There was a girl sitting on the edge of the water, no older than four or five. She had dark black pigtails. Jason’s chest ached at the sight of her. “Some of them don’t belong down here.”

“They’re dead, Jason. This is the only place they belong,” Dick replied quietly.

The girl looked up and walked over to Jason, pale hand tugging on his clothing. “Do you know where my Daddy is? I can’t find my Daddy.”

Jason just stared at her, lips gaping apart because the words were stuck in his throat.

Dick knelt down beside him and held out his hand to the little girl. “Your Daddy will come find you in a while. Right now, we’re going to take you some place nice where you can wait for him.”

“Her dad isn’t coming, Dick,” Jason whispered.

Dick looked up at him. “Of course he is.”

All mortals died.

Jason watched the girl take Dick’s hand. “How long until he gets here?”

“I don’t know,” Dick confessed. “But this is Jason and we’re going to take you someplace where you can wait for your dad.”

The girl looked up at Jason and then lifted her hands up, a silent bid to be picked up and held. Jason looked at Dick who didn’t say a word and then reached down to pick her up. The weight surprised him. She felt like a five year old, heavy enough to be real even though he could see through her to the dark rich soil below. “What’s your name?”

“Lian,” she replied.

“That’s a very pretty name,” Jason replied softly.

“Thank you,” she said, a proud smile on her face. “Are we going to go wait for Daddy?”

Jason walked back down the pier and onto the boat before taking a seat and still holding the girl to his side. There was a middle aged man on the boat and two older men. An old woman and a girl maybe sixteen in age. It was all that could fit on the boat and Jason looked at Dick still on the pier. “What about you?”

“I’ll meet you over there,” Dick said. “Just look after her.”

Jason didn’t need anyone to tell him to do that. She was a child, she shouldn’t be dead anyways. Jason was going to look after her because clearly no one else had.

True to his word, Dick was standing on the other side of the river and the three headed dog was back at his side. They stepped onto the wooden pier, one after another, and Dick stepped aside for one of those silent guards from before to lead them towards the gates.

This time the gates were open and Jason wondered what else had changed since the last time he’d come through.

Dick whistled and pointed to a spot by the gate before the dog went running the direction its master had pointed, growing gradually in size. There was a dog four stories tall standing guard by the gate and Lian looked at him with big, wide eyes as they walked into the belly of the kingdom.

It was bustling now, more guards and more souls lined up. The empty colosseums from the day before were now filled with pale, ghostly souls and sentences were read off. A woman, it sounded like, screamed as she was read her punishment and Lian tensed in Jason’s arms. He rubbed her back. “Don’t worry.” He stepped away from the group to stand by Dick who was looking around with consideration written on his face. “Where do we go?”

Dick smiled at the little girl and then pointed at the group getting away from them for Jason. “You can stay with the group. I’ll catch up with you.”

Jason frowned. “Well, doesn’t she just go?”

“Go?” Dick asked.

Jason motioned towards one of the buildings, the lines. “This is for judging, right?”

“Yes,” Dick dragged the word out like he couldn’t figure out where Jason was trying to take this.

“And she’s a child,” Jason said.

“She’s a soul,” Dick corrected.

Jason scoffed. “Semantics, Dickie. She’s the soul of a child.”

“She still has to be judged, Jason,” Dick said.

Jason was still rubbing her back, still cradling her in his arms. She was just a child. “Says who?”

“Says the very laws of the universe,” Dick said. He picked the little girl up from Jason’s arms and Jason thought she solidified a little more. Perhaps Dick’s presence as the ruler of the realm made him act as an anchor for her. A slight pink to her cheeks and lips, a brightness to her eyes that wasn’t there before. The ground was harder to see through her pale, see through body. “Souls are judged on the weights of their actions, Jason. She has acted and therefore she is judged.”

“Judged for what?” Jason demanded.

Dick glanced at Jason. “Why does it have to be a bad thing?” Before Jason could answer Dick smiled at the girl again, earning a returning smile from her. “Ready to go, pumpkin?”

“Yes,” Lian said, covering her mouth to hide her smile.

She was a real sweetheart. Jason followed Dick towards one of the colosseums. The guards parted for Dick and Jason who stood behind him, pushing to the front of the line for whatever reason Dick deemed necessary.

“Dick-“ Jason started.

“Hold on, Jason,” Dick ordered. The judges faced and empty seat and Dick stopped on the edge. “Take her and sit with her, please.”

“No,” Jason said.

Dick looked at him with an arched brow. “No?”

Jason remained firm. “She’s a child. A soul of a child, whatever… she doesn’t deserve this.”

Dick was silent for a moment. “This isn’t going to be an argument, Jason. She has to be judged. If she isn’t, she’ll have to stay here and wander the colosseums until she is. Now, I can send her over there to face that alone or you can take her over and comfort her. Which would you prefer?”

The younger man ground his teeth together but it was the sight of the little girl’s big eyes staring at him expectantly that had him holding out his hands. “I don’t like this.”

“You don’t have to like it,” Dick said, returning the girl to Jason’s arms. “We have to do a lot of things that we don’t like.”

“She doesn’t deserve this,” Jason repeated.

Dick hesitated before replying, “Who are you to decide what someone deserves?”

Jason didn’t have anything to say to that, so he carried the girl over to the chair and sat down. She was seated in his lap and with three sets of eyes bearing down on her, Jason wasn’t surprised when her little hand squeezed his. “Lian Harper. Lian Nguyen.”

“Tha’s me,” she said softly. She squeezed his hand tighter.

All at once, the judges started talking. Too fast, jumping from language to language so that even Jason had trouble keeping up with them. He caught snippets, heard them mention an earthquake. That caused Lian to tremble. In the end, there was silence. Absolute silence. “We have reached a decision.”

“O-okay,” Lian said.

“You are hereby sentenced to an eternity in the Fields of Elysium,” three voices in unison.

A sigh of relief slipped through Jason’s lips. Lian looked up at him. “Is tha’ good?”

“It’s very good, little one,” Jason replied. He stood and carried her back over to Dick who was smiling. Jason’s lips thinned. “Don’t look so smug.”

“Feel better?” Dick asked.

“How was I supposed to know?” Jason snapped. “When your fate is in someone else’s hands, you get worried?”

“Everyone’s fate is out of their hands, Jason,” Dick said. “But you are so eager to see the worst in people, even a child.”

“I _told_ you she didn’t deserve it,” Jason said.

Dick crossed his arms over his chest. “You decided that there was something she didn’t deserve. She’s an innocent with a lot of bravery in her. Why did you expect that she would get anything else but paradise?”

Jason held her closer but didn’t answer. He didn’t think he had one for that either.

“Ready to go, Lian?” Dick asked.

“Yes, I’m ready,” she said.

Dick laid his hand on Jason’s shoulder and warmth was a good feeling before the location went away. They reappeared in what Jason could only assume was Elysium. It glowed with its own white light. Truly beautiful. Pure and clean. Dick’s hand pulled away. “We have to let her go now, Jason.”

Jason looked startled. “What?”

“It’s time to leave her to her paradise,” Dick said.

“What about counseling and happiness and moving on?” Jason asked. “She’s a child. We have to help her.”

“She’s going to be fine, Jason. Trust me,” Dick said. “I’ve been doing this awhile.”

There was such earnestness in Dick’s eyes. It made Jason want to believe him. It made Jason want to listen to him. It made Jason slowly bend down and set Lian on the white floor. The moment her feet touched the ground, her eyes widened and she darted forward. Everything else forgotten.

Her soul disappeared into the white of the fields. Gone into her own paradise. Jason felt something tug at his heart. “Do you know what she sees?”

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Dick said. He shrugged and smiled. “But it has to be wonderful for the smile on her face.”

“She’s really going to be happy?” Jason asked.

“Forever,” Dick assured him.

Jason nodded. “Fine.” He lowered his voice. “You were right.”

Dick glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “Can I get that in writing?”

“Don’t push it,” Jason replied.

Dick laughed and reached out to touch Jason again, teleporting them away once more.

~~~

In the early years, the first few where Dick was in charge of the Underworld, he’d once started walking towards the mountains and away from the kingdom. Not with any real intention or desire to run away, just started moving away instead of in the direction of his duties and travelled as far out as he could get on his own two legs. Days passed. Nights that he found himself sleeping on the ground and then waking up and going farther and farther without a single thought for the kingdom he was leaving behind.

Bruce had shown up eventually, after Dick had lost track of the nights he’d spent laying on his back and watching heavy clouds fly sluggishly over the sky. He found Dick at the base of a mountain, so far away from the kingdom that it was not even a speck on the horizon any longer, and sat down beside him. They exchanged no words at first, spent an hour or two just sitting beside each other. Surprisingly, when the silence was finally broken, it was by Bruce. “I’m sorry, Dick.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dick had replied.

“It’s more my fault than it is anyone else’s,” Bruce had said.

“You never asked me to do it,” Dick replied.

“I couldn’t ask it of you.”

“Which is why I offered,” Dick said. “It was my decision.”

“Born out of necessity.” Bruce folded his hands together. “My necessity.”

Dick pulled his knees to his chest, feeling more like the mere child Bruce had raised than he had in a long, long time. “It’s harder than I’d thought it would be.”

That knowledge seemed to weigh on Bruce, force his shoulders down like he was carrying the whole world there. He might as well have been. Dick wasn’t the only one struggling with new responsibility.

The horizon seemed different and, somehow, like the same horizon he’d been staring at for the days and days he’d wandered getting out here. “I was going to go back.”

“I know,” Bruce replied. “That’s not why I came out here to find you.”

“Then why?” Dick had asked. He’d turned to look at his brother.

Bruce didn’t face him, continued staring out, and his lips remained firmly sealed for minutes. “Because I missed you. I didn’t realize how lonely I had been until you weren’t there anymore.”

Dick and Jason reappeared in the garden and Dick shook the memory from his head. Loneliness was something he had long grown accustomed to even if his trip to the farthest reaches of his endless realm had not been the last of its kind. But the trips grew shorter, the years between them grew longer, and one day Dick had stared out at the horizon and the urge grew strong but he’d turned away and went back to his duties.

Eventually you grew up. Eventually you resigned yourself to reality. Reality was chained to the ground beneath his feet. “You can stay here for the rest of the day if you’d like and you have complete access to the palace and the surrounding areas.”

“That’s it?” Jason demanded.

“For today,” Dick replied.

“What about the Fields of Punishment? What about guarding the realm?” Jason demanded. “What about Tartarus?”

At the mention of the Pit, Dick felt the tug in his stomach strengthen and twist. “Not today, Jason. You’ve already done a lot. I don’t want to overwhelm you on your first day.”

“I can handle it,” Jason said. Dick wondered if that was pride, foolishness, or bravery. He’d like to think it was bravery but from the pull of his shoulders Dick had to accept that pride was more likely.

Dick sighed. “But you don’t have to. Not today.”

“But-“

Dick cut him off. “Is there something you _want_ to see in the Fields of Punishment? Does the idea of Tartarus excite you?”

Jason pulled back. “No.”

“Then enjoy the rest of your day,” Dick ordered. “And I will take care of my remaining duties alone. You are here for two months, Jason. I will not require you to tolerate the atmosphere around the Pit for that entire time.”

Jason hesitated and then replied, “You do. You do every day.”

“I’ve had a lot of time to get used to it,” Dick replied. “Millennia. And it’s not something I wish anyone else to get used to.”

“You said I was going to be helping you,” Jason said.

Dick smiled and it felt tight on his face. “You will, Jason, but I’ve been running this kingdom by myself for a long time and I can run it alone for one more day.”

“Fine,” Jason said. It came out sharp and Dick didn’t understand that, didn’t understand why Jason was so determined to follow him to the darkest place in the universe.

“Don’t eat from the garden,” Dick reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jason said.

Even in his anger, Jason’s presence was making the fruit and flowers bloom. Dick liked that and he’d miss it when Jason was gone. The garden was one of Dick’s favorite places, filled with reminders of a time when things were much different.

It would be hard to watch it wither when the nature god left the Underworld.

“I’ll be back in time to share ambrosia,” Dick said. “If you’re interested.”

Jason didn’t respond and Dick took that as cue to leave, disappearing once more from the garden.

~~~

It tasted like rotten fruit, smelled like decay on the wind. Not that much breeze passed over Tartarus. The light disappeared here, even that natural red-orange glow to the realm just got sucked into the hole before Dick. Miles across, even more miles deep, if he stood on the edge and looked down there would be nothing but an endless darkness.

The feeling in the bottom of his stomach, twisting and turning, churned the most when he was here to stand guard. And the voices, like whispers in a tongue so ancient that even _Dick_ didn’t recognize it, were the loudest in the back of his mind.

He crouched down and looked at the edges, untouched for millennia. Its prisoners were going nowhere, not as long as Dick was here to stand guard.

_Jason_.

Dick’s back straightened, recognizing the syllables strung together to form Jason’s name. So they knew he was here after all. It didn’t matter. He kicked a stone into the pit, no bigger than an acorn. “Your threats don’t affect me.”

The echoing laughter in the back of his head was enough to have Dick twisting his expression into a scowl and starting his return back to the palace.


	3. A Chill to Make You Shiver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time coming. Hope it was worth it.

Duty breeds responsibility and responsibility breeds routine. Dick woke up at the same time as usual and rolled over onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, long enough to drag himself from the remains of a hazy dream, and then dragged a hand down his face before climbing out of bed. Nude, he walked across the floor while the shadows of the room moved to cloak themselves around him and solidify into the green armor he wore. He grabbed his sword, sheathed on a vanity mirror, and strapped it to his hip and then closed his fingers around the hilt. He paused there and pulled the sword up, letting a few inches of the gold blade glow with its fluid red and green designs before he pushed it back down.

He pulled his shoulders back and left the room.

The route to the main entrance was far from his bedroom which gave him plenty of time to walk and more than enough windows to walk past. One of which took him past the gardens. He almost missed him, standing out between the trees.

The red hair was what caught his attention, nearly blending in with the multicolored fruits hanging on the trees. Their normally dull colors were exploded into life just as bright as his hair. Nonetheless, Dick had memorized that color already and knew how to pick it out even among scarlet fruits hanging about him. The glowing green eyes were the next thing his eyes went to. Beautiful in pale skin. All gods were beautiful, some more than others but all breathtaking.

And yet, something about this one made Dick’s breath catch in his chest.

He was riveting and Dick cherished this small glance while the man was otherwise occupied with the garden.

He stepped forward, pressing his palm against the glass, and watched as Jason moved from plant to plant and seemed to whisper things to them as if they were listening. Maybe they were, to him. In response, the garden continued blooming before his eyes.

Before he knew it, his feet were carrying him down the same long hallway that opened into the entrance of the garden. He’d spent plenty of time here early on but not so much anymore. “Jason?”

The nature god turned. “Dick.”

“How are you doing?” Dick asked.

Jason shrugged. “It’s harder to sleep down here.”

Dick wondered which part that was. The darkness, the death. He wondered if Jason could hear the voices or if that pleasure was saved for Dick alone. “Something keep you up?”

“I was thinking about the little girl,” Jason said. “Lian.”

Dick sighed. “She’s happy now, Jason. Death isn’t the end for her.”

“Afterlife and life aren’t the same thing. It’s a difference between growing old and living through hardships. She’s never going to fall in love,” Jason said. “She’s never going to grow old and feel nostalgia.”

“Some humans never fall in love, even well into their elder years, and gods never grow old,” Dick pointed out.

That seemed to only solidify Jason’s point for him. “Don’t you ever want to?”

Grow old? Dick had never really considered that. Gods didn’t experience aging in the same way. They grew wiser, hopefully, learned from their experiences but they never felt the urges from their impending doom. When death came, _if_ death came, then it was a surprise. Immortality was a unique way of existence.

“I like living and mortality comes with an expiration date,” Dick said.

Jason’s expression fell, just the tiniest bit. “Dying gives you a reason to live to the fullest.”

“Why can’t you do that now?” Dick asked, a small smile on his lips. “Just stop thinking about the future and start living in the present. Shut off the concerns about tomorrow. You’re lucky, Jason. For the time being, you have no responsibilities. Why not enjoy that for the time being?”

“I have responsibilities. My realm, my brother,” Jason said.

“The little sea god, right?” Dick asked. “Damian?”

Jason smiled at the mention of his little brother. “That’s the one.”

“What about Bruce? What about Talia?” Dick asked. “Isn’t he their responsibility?”

“Mother is… not made for raising children,” Jason said. “And your brother is not the greatest father figure.”

Dick could hardly disagree. After all, while some people were made to be parents – such a thought brought memories of warm embraces and a hummed lullaby – Bruce was not. He was a strong leader, a great king, a good brother, and a truly amazing man. But he was not a good parent.

The important thing, in Dick’s eyes, was that he still tried.

“You didn’t grow up with him,” Dick pointed out. “It’s hard to be a father to a stranger.”

Jason shrugged. “Sending me down here, he made it infinitely clear that his priority was Olympus and not Damian or I.”

“He’s a king. It’s his duty to do the best for his kingdom,” Dick said.

“He’s a father. His first priority should be his family,” Jason said.

Dick wondered what could have made Jason so passionate on the subject. But Jason did not seem the type to enjoy being pressed, answers would come over time. Dick hoped so, at least. “If we want to get started with today?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jason said. He stepped out of the garden and up in front of Dick. “Sure. What are we doing today?”

“Counseling souls,” Dick said.

“So we’re avoiding Tartarus and we’re avoiding punishing souls,” Jason said. “I’m not stupid, you know. I can see that you’re only showing me the best parts.”

Dick would have thought Jason would be grateful. “Why are you so determined to see the worst parts of the Underworld?”

“Because nothing is all sunshine and roses,” Jason said. “And that’s coming from a nature god. Just like my job isn’t just growing flowers in meadows and singing with birds in trees or whatever. Part of it is earthquakes and forest fires and nature destroying its own creation to make room for the new. I’m not a child. I’ve seen destruction. I’ve seen death.”

“Not like this,” Dick said. But, despite his better judgement, he nods. “Fine. Then we’ll go to the Fields of Punishment.”

Jason looks relieved and Dick doesn’t understand that. Who _wants_ to see the evil in the world?

He reached out his hand and held it out, palm up, waiting for Jason to take note of it and then slowly place his hand palm down on Dick’s. Dick curled his fingers around Jason’s hand and then teleported them to the Fields of Punishment.

He didn’t bother with the gates where chained souls were dragged to their eternal torture, sending them directly inside. The heat from flames was warm against Dick’s cheeks. The screaming never stopped, just rolled on and onto – one scream turning into another. Men and women. Blood wet the rock and reflected the light of the flames.

“Aren’t you glad you came?” Dick asked dryly.

Jason was busy looking around, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. The man chained to the stone while the guard cracked a whip over his back and let blood run in rivulets down his skin. The woman being slowly lowered into the flames where she began screaming. A man with dogs, more vicious looking than Cerberus, ripping his insides out with their teeth.

“This is…” Jason trailed off.

Dick swallowed heavily. “You wanted to come.”

It was bloody and dark and hot and the endless screaming of souls desperate for a moment’s peace they would never receive felt like a cut to the very core. Dick hated it here, even if it was his duty to patrol it.

“You were right,” Jason said quietly. “This is different.”

Death as Jason had seen it was a quiet thing, a painless thing. It was the corpse of a creature whose soul had fled the surface world and left behind the empty shell. Death here was the afterlife, just as animated as the world above it but even more contrasted.

Standing here, it was hard to believe that just an hour’s walk away was the Isles of the Blessed and Elysium. That people could live out their greatest desires so close you could see the glow of light in the distance, and here they lived out the worst nightmares imaginable.

“Follow me,” Dick ordered. “And watch your step.”

He led him through the darkness, through the puddles of blood growing sticky on the surface of rocks. He kept a close eye on the spring god and the look in his eyes. Dick knew the god was an angry one. That was not news. That was his entire reason for being down here. Part of his lesson, however, was to learn consequences of his actions. The god had lost control of his anger before, killed how many accidentally?

It wasn’t until Dick had to stop walking and turn around that he let his heart ache for the young god. He was stopped, watching a screaming soul be raped violently by those same primordial spirits that guarded the gates and the judges.

“Jason,” Dick said, urging him along.

The god looked sick but much like a bystander watching the destruction of a terrible tragedy, Jason seemed unable to pull his eyes away. His lips moved but over the fire and the screams and the crack of whips, over the growls of animals and the splash of water crashing over the drowning soul just over the wall, it was unintelligible.

“What?” Dick asked.

“What did he do?” Jason asked.

Dick walked back over but didn’t watch the spectacle of the soul’s violation. “He forced this act upon children, Jason. The punishment is to fit the crime.”

Jason didn’t look any less sick but his jaw clenched and he nodded. “Children like that little girl.”

“Not her, but others. Yes,” Dick said. “Boys, mostly.”

Dick was blessed with the details of every soul’s life.

Blessed. Right.

“They all… they deserve this,” Jason said, finally dragging his eyes away.

Dick met those teal eyes, desperate to be assured that every soul here had brought this on themselves. “No one here is innocent, Jason.”

It relieved Jason whose expression relaxed some. He closed his eyes and turned away from the scene, looking instead at the man drowning in the water as it splashed relentlessly over his head. Then he turned and found himself watching a woman whipped to bone.

“I want to go,” Jason said.

“Are you su-“ Dick started.

Jason’s eyes found Dick’s. “I’m sure.”

They reappeared in the center of the palace hall. Jason looked around and then barked out a laugh. “It’s amazing how cold everything here is.”

Dick knew innately that Jason wasn’t referring to the temperature. The palace was cold and hard and unyielding. The Isles of Punishment were cold and vicious. The sky was empty and lifeless. “You get used to it eventually.”

“Do you?” Jason demanded.

Dick didn’t really know what he meant by the question, but didn’t have to answer it when the god dragged a hand through his hair. “How often will we be going there?”

“Not often,” Dick promised. “I’ll be doing most of the patrols of it and Tartarus alone.”

Jason grimaced. “I don’t think I’m ready for Tartarus.”

“Neither do I,” Dick said. He ignored the rise in volume of the voices at the mention of the prison.

“You’re not that much older than me,” Jason said, defensively.

Dick smirked and gripped the hilt of his blade. “Remember? Experience is everything. Hope you never need to gain it.”

Dick had seen war. Jason had managed to avoid it.

“Discipline,” Jason repeated. He sighed. “I remember.”

“Consequences,” Dick said. “Learning to think about what your actions cause. That helps you learn discipline.”

“I remember you,” Jason said suddenly. Dick arched an eyebrow. “From the war. I was too young to fight, but I remember you on the battlefield.”

“Is that so?” Dick asked.

“When I first came down here, you smiled at me. It was the first time I could remember you smiling,” Jason said.

Dick’s expression softened. “It was a tough time.”

“Father says you were a happy child,” Jason said, admitting more in that sentence than he’d have liked. Admitting that he’d listened to some of his father’s stories, not ignored them the way he wanted Bruce to believe.

“I was,” Dick replied. “Most children are.”

“What changed that?” Jason asked.

~~~

_Dick’s parents’ bodies were broken on the white marble floor, golden ichor pooling around them. He looked at them from behind the leg of the Titan before him. Bruce._

_“What is the meaning of this?” Bruce demanded._

_Dick recognized the two faced titan who stepped forward. Dent, a god of duality. Of betrayal. “Bruce, they brought forth a new being and hid him from us. That creature you’re hiding is no Titan.”_

_“I’m aware,” Bruce said. “The humans are calling him a god.”_

_“He’ll bring destruction to our kind,” Crane said._

_“A child?” Bruce demanded. “You’re letting your fear control you. His parents committed no crime,_ he _has committed no crime.”_

_“Hiding him from us was a crime,” Crane argued._

_“Even you cannot argue that, Bruce,” Dent said._

_Dick couldn’t understand how his parents could have possibly done anything to deserve this._

_Bruce was quiet for a moment. “The sins of the father are not to be visited on the son. He’s done nothing wrong. He should be raised as a Titan.”_

_“Who would raise that creature?” Nygma asked._

_A hand slid into Dick’s hair and the boy tipped his head up to see the large hand of the Titan beside him. Bruce ruffled his hair gently but never let his gaze fall away from the Titans before them. “I will.”_

_“You?” Dent asked._

_“Me,” Bruce replied._

~~~

_He knew Bruce was working to equalize the world for all of them. To allow humans and gods and Titans to exist in peace and harmony. He didn’t realize he’d been preparing for war, been preparing Dick for war._

_It made so much sense now. “Why?”_

_“They took it too far when they killed your family,” Bruce said, not bothering to look up from the map before him. “That was the moment I realized they couldn’t see harmony as a real option.”_

_Dick couldn’t make his mouth form words._

_“Is this honestly the place for children?” Talia asked. “What if he were to tell someone?”_

_“I trust Dick to keep our secrets, Talia,” Bruce said. He waved his hand and the map changed, mountains sinking and oceans drying up before Dick’s eyes – the earth parting and trees turning blackened._

_“Nothing has changed,” Talia said. “Your call for peace did nothing.”_

_Bruce didn’t look surprised. He looked sad, however. “Then my call for peace will become a call for war.”_

~~~

_“It’s not a big deal, Dick,” Bruce said._

_Seeing Bruce hurt would never be easy._

_“I wasn’t paying attention,” Bruce said._

_The gold seeping out of the cut and staining Bruce’s fingers reminded him too much of the blood on the floor around his parents._

_Bruce grabbed Dick’s chin and pulled his gaze up to his face instead of the wound. “I’m fine, Dick.”_

_“I can help,” Dick said._

_Bruce’s lips quirked. “Sure, chum. Grab some towels and you can help me stop the bleeding.”_

_Dick grabbed them as directed but that wasn’t what he meant. “Slade has been teaching me to use a sword. I can help fight, Bruce. Let me help.”_

_Bruce didn’t speak but Dick had gotten good at reading Bruce’s emotions. The displeasure didn’t sink into his words but it settled in the tension in Bruce’s bare shoulders and the tick that formed in his jaw. “Slade had no right to train you in combat.”_

_“We’re at war. I wanted to be able to protect the people I cared about,” Dick said. “I’m not the child you took in, Bruce. I’m almost a man.”_

_Bruce looked at the long, lank frame of the young man only just having lost the baby fat in his cheeks. “You’re a child.”_

_“I can help,” Dick repeated._

_“You’re not going to join the battlefield, Dick. That’s final,” Bruce said._

_Dick ground his teeth together but didn’t argue. He pressed the towels against Bruce’s arm until the man flinched, staunching the bleeding patiently._

~~~

_There were arms holding him. Dick was shaking, bleeding, crying._

_Bruce’s voice was an anchor. “I told you not to fight!”_

_“I wanted to help,” Dick said. He ached everywhere, hurt like he’d been ripped apart and sewn back together. Dent might as well have._

_“Any of them would kill to get their hands on you. You don’t need to walk right into their clutches!” Bruce snapped._

_Bruce stumbled and Dick felt his dislocated shoulder scream in pain. He screamed right along with it._

_“Promise me you’ll listen from now on,” Bruce said, later. They were in Dick’s room and the covers were over him. Bruce was standing to his side and for the strangest reason Dick thought he remembered the man brushing his hair out of his face._

_Must have been a dream._

_“I promise I’ll listen when you’re right,” Dick said._

_Bruce sighed. “Dick…”_

_“I won’t go into battle without you,” Dick said, rolling over and facing him. “But I will go fight with you.”_

_“There is no place in battle for a child,” Bruce replied._

_Dick reached over to the table where the sword was. His mother’s sword. The Robin. The red and green swirls moved fluidly through the gold blade. “This battle is because of me, Bruce. Because of you. Because of other children left alone because of the monsters the Titans have become. Please let me fight. Train me.”_

_Bruce closed his eyes and Dick knew he’d won. If anyone could consider this winning._

~~~

_“I now pronounce you husband and wife. Your new King and Queen of Olympus.”_

_The crowd was cheering. Dick stood off to the side, gripping the hilt of the sword at his hip. This was wrong. So wrong. Talia had victory in her eyes but Bruce looked resigned._

_He looked scared. Dick hated that look in the man’s eyes._

_“Congratulations, Father.” It was a chorus of younger voices. The oldest looked to be barely out of his child years. No older than Dick had been when he’d begged Bruce to let him fight as the man bled from a cut Dick had later sewed up. The younger was little more than a toddler. His words were garbled by a child’s tongue and his kneeling position wobbly from a lack of dexterity._

_Bruce’s children. This had been Talia’s brilliant plan. She’d been so close to their inner circle, gained Bruce’s trust. Then withheld her support unless he gave her Olympus. Gave her the crown._

_Bruce could not succeed with Talia against him, not when she knew_ everything _._

_Not when she had his children._

_Dick wanted nothing more than to rip the sword from the sheath and drag the blade against her delicate looking throat. Instead, he tore away from the festivities. Of course, Dick had gotten an invitation. Anything less would have been improper. Dick would not be making an official appearance._

_“Leaving so soon?”_

_Dick turned to the goddess of love. Selina, round with Bruce’s child as well. She was naming him Timothy and she was not telling Bruce that the child was his._

_“I understand,” Selina said. “This farce is…”_

_“Disturbing,” Dick muttered._

_“Keep your enemies close,” Selina said._

_Dick didn’t want Talia close to Bruce. She was a snake. “You love him. Why not stop this?”_

_“I tried,” Selina said. “And he told me that the world came before us.”_

_The world came before anything. The war had been bigger than love, bigger than family, bigger than them. Bruce was as much of a pawn as a king in his own game of chess._

_“I’m sorry,” Dick said._

_“Don’t be,” she replied. Her hand came down on her stomach. “A part of him will always belong to me.”_

_Dick nodded his head and then disappeared, transporting himself back to the kingdom he’d fought for. Fought and won and earned._

_The cold chill of death still sent shivers up his spine. Eventually, Dick thought, that would surely fade._

~~~

“I changed,” Dick said. The open window carried a cold chill that made Dick shiver. He lied, “You really do get used to it.”


	4. Ghostly Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -pokes head in and drops this here-
> 
> Sorry for the wait.

Enjoying a meal was interrupted by Dick grabbing his head and grinding his teeth together.

Jason’s voice was soft. “Dick?”

“It’s nothing,” Dick said. Another piercing pain through his skull made that a hard lie to convince anyone of.

“What’s wrong?” Jason asked.

“You’re not supposed to have any visitors,” Dick muttered. He pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead, fending off Talia’s violent attempts to force her way into Dick’s realm. There was a reason she was not allowed in and it had been that way for a long time before Jason had come here.

Jason frowned. “Who is trying to visit your realm?”

“Your mother,” Dick said.

Dick was a strong god, but Talia was queen. A title of such magnitude gave her some inherent power that made it easier for her to demand entrance here. Easier, but not easy. Dick held tight to his guards keeping her out of the Underworld.

“Why am I not allowed visitors?” Jason asked.

“For starters, this is intended to be a consequence,” Dick said. “Furthermore, your mother is a callous bitch.”

Jason’s eyes flashed. “That’s not necessary.”

Dick’s head snapped up and his voice bordered on biting. “And yet you don’t argue the point.”

Someone was helping her, maybe more than one someone, because Dick felt the sharp stab of power between his eyes and then the barrier keeping her out snapped long enough for her to slide in. She’d been incapable of doing that before.

Her presence curled like green smoke before solidifying. “Richard.”

“You’re not welcome here, Talia,” Dick said, standing. “You have no place here.”

“I came to visit my son,” Talia said.

“He is only here for two months,” Dick pressed.

“Two months is an eternity when a mother is being kept from her child,” Talia said.

As if she cared. Talia was a shrewd, calculating manipulator. Every action was planned. If there was a benefit to her staying away, she’d have dropped those same children on Bruce without a word. It was only their misfortune that Talia could gain more through keeping them close to her. Just like now, Talia had always sought entrance to the Underworld and now she had it. She’d likely convinced those same gods to help force her way in with stories of how miserable she was not knowing how Jason was doing.

“You are not welcome here,” Dick growled. “Leave at once before I remove you from the realm myself.”

“And I will force my way back in. I will not be kept from my son,” Talia said.

Dick could have throttled her for her smug attitude on the subject. In her time at Bruce’s side, she’d had more than enough opportunity to ally with some of the gods. Dick, on the other hand, had abandoned most of his friendships to fulfill his responsibilities down here. She’d win the fight and perhaps bring Bruce into it as well.

Didn’t make defeat taste any less bitter. He waved his hand towards Jason. “You have an hour, Talia. That’s it. Stay inside the palace.”

“We-“

“ _Stay inside the palace_ ,” Dick’s voice became a low growl.

Talia’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed before she shrugged a single, slender shoulder. “Fine.”

Dick left the room, hating that there were no other choices.

Jason watched his host leave the room, frowning as he did. His mother’s slender hand settled on Jason’s shoulder. “Let Richard pout, Jason. He has been pathetically attached to your father since a young age.”

“He didn’t want you here,” Jason said.

“A fact that had not escaped my attention,” Talia said. “Richard has not particularly attempted to hide that fact.”

Jason shrugged her hand off. “Don’t pretend this has anything to do with me, Mother. Two months is nothing in the face of your patience.”

“Patience has no place between a mother and her-“

“Stop,” Jason ordered. “What do you want?”

Talia’s lips thinned. She stepped away, the long train of her dress dragging over the stonework floor of the palace. “How are you adjusting?”

“It’s the Underworld, Mother,” Jason said.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Talia said.

Jason bit down on his tongue and looked away. He caught a glimpse of the orange glow of the sky through the window and then returned his gaze. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. He’s given me access to the garden while I’m down here, a chance to grow something. The Fields of Asphodel aren’t bad, Elysium is gorgeous.”

“Have you seen the Fields of Punishment?” Talia asked.

“Unfortunately,” Jason admitted. “I asked to see them. He warned me against it but relented when I pushed.”

“Tartarus?” Talia asked.

Jason shook his head. “Dick doesn’t think I’m ready.”

Talia scoffed. “Any child of mine could handle anything Richard could.”

“Honestly, Mother, I don’t think I’m ready either. Dick had been right about a lot so far,” Jason said. He curled his hand into a fist and then exhaled as he uncurled his fingers. “As much as I hate to admit it, Father may have had a point in bringing me here.”

Talia turned sharply. “This punishment was uncalled for.”

“It’s really not that much of a punishment,” Jason said. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Dick has been accommodating, understanding. I know you don’t like him-“

“I despise him,” Talia hissed.

“-but Dick is different from the man at war I saw. Maybe he was cold then but he is just lonely here,” Jason said.

Talia’s lips quirked. “Good.”

Jason wasn’t impressed. He knew his mother was no compassionate woman herself but no one deserved the isolation of this kingdom. “He’s a good man, a good _god_.”

Talia was silent. She set her hand on the back of one of the chairs, watching Jason closely. “You like him.”

“He’s not that bad,” Jason corrected.

Talia pursed her lips. She never once lost that calculating gaze. “Perhaps there is more to him than meets the eye if you truly feel such.”

“Where is my Mother and what have you done with her?” Jason asked dryly.

“I don’t know what you could possibly be referring to,” Talia said.

Jason snorted. “That was damn near an admission of potentially being wrong.”

“Watch your language in my presence, young man,” Talia warned.

“Don’t change the subject. What are you after?” Jason demanded.

“What could I possibly want?” Talia asked. “You are my son. There is no one I would trust the judgement of more. If you believe there is something worthy in him, then I suppose he deserves another look. I bless whatever bond you have between you, may it grow to the fullest.”

Jason really didn’t believe her. His mother did nothing without a reason.

“Would you care to show me the palace?” Talia asked, pulling Jason from his thoughts. “A tour would give me the chance to tell you how your brother is doing.”

Jason didn’t want to give his mother a tour of anything, but he also expected that should he refuse he would likely get next to no information on Damian’s wellbeing. “Follow me.”

~~~

“I take it your mother finally left?” Dick asked.

“She did,” Jason said, leaning against the balcony beside Dick. The god was leaned against the railing and looking out at the endless expanse of mountains and stone. Desolate, alone. “I’m sorry that she forced her way in.”

“It was inevitable,” Dick said. “She would have found a way somehow.”

“It was wrong for her to turn gods against you to break your barrier,” Jason said.

Dick shrugged. “She’s up there. I’m down here. It doesn’t leave me a chance to make many allies.”

Jason had considered that before. He tapped his thumb against the top of the railing. “She really doesn’t like you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Dick muttered.

“Why?” Jason asked.

Dick glanced at him, lips parting before he sealed them again and faced the stretch of rock again. “It’s not my place. It’s not my goal to turn you against your mother.”

“I think I’m capable of making my own decisions. I just want to know what happened,” Jason said.

“It’s in the past,” Dick said.

“So?” Jason asked. “What kind of idiot would I be if I didn’t acknowledge that the past has a hold on us even now? It can barely even be considered the past when it’s affecting things right now.”

Dick huffed, lips twisting into a small smile. “You’re very clever.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Jason teased. “Come on, Dick. Tell me what happened.”

“You,” Dick said. “Your brother.” He twisted, leaning back against the railing and crossing his arms over his chest. “Talia worked with Bruce for a long time during the war, had an intimate relationship with him. Bruce trusted her. At the peak of the war, the slightest shift in power could make or break our chances of winning. Your mother came to your father with you and your brother and told him that he could make her Queen or she could pull her support and stand at her father’s side.”

Jason’s lips thinned. It sounded like his mother.

“Bruce loves her, or loved her. I honestly don’t know how he feels anymore, maybe I never did. But love doesn’t have to make you blind and Bruce knew that Talia had always been hungry for power. It’s why he never offered to make her Queen until she forced his hand,” Dick said. “I can’t forgive her for that. She knew he didn’t have a choice.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason said.

“It’s not your place to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. Talia’s presence as Queen gives her the power to make it harder for me to see Bruce, harder for me to get an audience on Olympus. Bruce knows but there’s not much he can do without risking another war,” Dick said. “So I see my brother when I can and I maintain my duties down here.”

“Why force herself down here?” Jason asked, seeing if maybe Dick had a better idea as to Talia’s motivations than even Jason did.

Dick shrugged. “To prove she can? That even in my own kingdom I am subject to her power.”

Seemed petty. Mother could be petty, though.

“I asked that she not visit again without your permission. She did agree, for whatever that’s worth,” Jason said.

“I appreciate it, but the point is moot now. She can get in and she will if she wants to bad enough, whether I permit her or not,” Dick said. He straightened. “Perhaps we should conduct business today and forget about her visit.”

“Sure,” Jason said.

~~~

Nearing the month mark, Jason realized he might actually learn to miss this place. Or, rather, it’s guardian.

“Will I be capable of visiting?” Jason asked.

Dick looked up from petting Cerberus on the head. “Visiting where?”

“Here,” Jason said.

“I… suppose…” Dick said. “Why would you want to?”

“Well, it’s not as bad as I expected it to be,” Jason said.

Dick stared at him a moment and then shook his head. “The Underworld is terrible, Jason. You’re not fooling me.”

Jason scowled. He couldn’t just admit it, refused to just admit it. “It has things here that are okay.”

“And that warrants visitation?” Dick asked.

“Maybe…” Jason trailed off.

Dick’s eyebrows rose but Jason stuck to his story, not wavering his gaze to meet Dick’s surprised one. Dick hesitated and then shrugged. “Well, like I said, I suppose you would be capable of visiting.”

“Good,” Jason said.

Dick stared at him for a long moment and Jason nearly told him to memorize it so he didn’t have to keep looking when the god’s eyes flicked over Jason’s shoulder and widened. Jason twisted, taking in the green smoke forming into a glowing green eyed abomination that drew two swords dripping with the same eerie green liquid that it drooled from the mouth. With each step the green seeped into the ground and turned the stone black with wisps of green smoke curling from the surface.

A force hit Jason in the side and he landed with a grunt as Dick didn’t even glance down before launching away from him to attack the creature.

The soft, golden glow of Dick’s blade made it easy to keep track of, despite the speed in which Dick flurried his blows. The green swords made an X, catching Dick on the downward swing, and then pushed him back. The creature returned the attack, hitting once with the one blade and then again with the second. The hits clanged against Dick’s armor, which never seemed to slow the god down, and Dick took each with a soft grunt before a lucky hit took him to the ground. A single green blade lifted up, dripping that liquid onto Dick’s armor before sinking down. Dick rolled but not fast enough to keep it from sinking into his arm and pinning him into the stone.

Dick screamed from the pain and Jason managed to pull himself to his feet before the creature turned on him instead.

Jason’s blade had been relinquished on his trip but the electricity that flowed through his body was part of him. He held his hand up, letting bright white and blue arcs of lightning strike the creature. The form seemed to shake, pieces of the creature landing in heaps of greenish liquid that spread black about the ground. Jason lowered his hand, however, and the being took another step forward.

It moved with an unearthly speed and Jason was unable to breathe with the hand squeezing around his throat. He gripped the arm of the creature but couldn’t shake the grip. Sharp jagged teeth spread apart as the mouth opened.

“Fuck,” Jason managed, and then said it again when that green smoke escaped the maw of the creature and slipped in past Jason’s open lips. He inhaled on instinct and felt the smoke reach his throat, chest-

The grip released and Jason opened his eyes in time to watch the creature look down at the tip of the golden sword poking out of his chest before the body melted before his eyes and spread into a glowing green puddle on the ground.

Jason stumbled back and hacked out little clouds of green smoke to clear it from his lungs. He looked up at Dick, holding his arm as the golden ichor seeped out of the wound and dripped onto the ground. The golden sword laid to the side and Dick wobbled before sinking to his knees beside it.

“What the hell was that?” Jason demanded hoarsely.

Dick waved his hand and the green separated from the black. The creature that formed reminded Jason a lot of the guards and ferryman – the creatures at Dick’s call. “Something… infected it…”

Jason looked down at the green now lying dormant. He reached out, hesitating at Dick’s noise of warning, and then dipped his fingers into it. It gleamed on his skin but appeared harmless. “What is this?”

Dick used his teeth and good hand to remove the armor on his arm. Baring the wound showed the horror of it, the black and green veins spreading from the wound. Jason instantly wiped the substance from his fingers though Dick shook his head. “You’re immune.”

“What?” Jason asked. “How?”

“Your Grandfather,” Dick said, panting.

“Should we… should we return to Olympus?” Jason asked.

Dick shook his head fervently. “No. I can’t leave here. Not like this. I could die outside of the Underworld and the Titans would be released. Teleport us back to the palace.”

“But-“

“Teleport us back to the palace, Jason!” Dick ordered.

Jason fell silent and reached out, placing his hand against Dick’s neck before sending them both back to the palace.

Dick braced his hand against the stone floor. “I have to focus everything on Tartarus and healing. Do you understand me?”

Jason hesitated. “Not really.”

“No moving souls, no judgement, no guards, no punishments,” Dick said. “No-nothing but the barriers.”

Jason was about to ask what that meant when the outside literally flashed black, flickering between the desolation of the realm and a void of darkness outside the window. “Shit.”

“I’m going to pass out,” Dick said. “And I can’t keep anything going but the barriers so I can heal myself. We’re sitting ducks. Go back to Olympus and wait until I return to get you.”

“Will you be safe?” Jason asked.

“Jason,” Dick said, voice hoarse and tired.

“No,” Jason said. “You can’t make me leave. You’re not strong enough. Do what you need to but I’m not going anywhere.”

Dick looked pissed and Jason was sure he was gonna be in a whole heap of trouble when whatever this was, was over. But he couldn’t leave Dick like this.

The outside went black again, this time not flickering back to the landscape, and then the walls seemed to fade into it as well. Jason made out the form of Dick slumping to the ground before everything snapped to darkness.

Jason heard himself inhale and beneath that he could hear the shaky breathing of the god of the Underworld somewhere near him. He could feel movement but not the floor under him. Jason was reminded of his thought of floating on a lake.

The Underworld has simply _stopped_ while Dick healed and Jason marveled at what that meant for the power that Dick must have had under his control.

In the corner of his eye, or whatever that meant here in the darkness, Jason made out a glow and turned to see that familiar green smoke rolling across the void towards him. It started from nowhere and everywhere and Jason took a step back as it wound around him.

_“Grandson.”_


End file.
